Barack Obama says he has fulfilled a campaign promise to make the US tax
system fairer with a deal to avert the 'fiscal cliff' crisis.

"The one thing that I think hopefully in the New Year we'll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little bit less brinkmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much," he said.

Mr Obama also warned that he would not bargain with Republicans in Congress or offer spending cuts in return for lifting the government's borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling, in the coming months.

"While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed," the president said.

"Let me repeat. We can't not pay bills that we've already incurred. If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic, far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff."